A waterfall chart is a powerful computational tool for analyzing some types of data. In particular, a waterfall chart allows a user to compare two different versions of a quantity and the underlying details for the difference between the two versions. The quantity may be a metric that is of importance to the user; it may be, for example, the amount a product is produced, revenues, costs, etc. The two versions may correspond to, for example, the planned and actual versions, two different time periods, two different regions, two different branches of a company, etc. To find the underlying details of the difference between the two versions, the waterfall chart allows the user to break down the difference into the corresponding differences for multiple components; these differences being called variance steps. The components may be, for example, different models of the product, subaccounts for the revenue or cost accounts, employees, regional offices, etc.
Existing methods for creating a waterfall chart, however, are cumbersome and insufficient. They essentially require a user to calculate all data used by the waterfall chart, including variance steps, and enter those data in a specific form into a data sheet. Moreover, the existing methods often require the user to manually graph the entered data and manipulate the resulting graph to achieve the appearance of a waterfall chart. Moreover, the existing methods do not provide any mechanism for the user to further modify an already created waterfall chart. Some useful modification may include navigating through different time periods, navigating through different dimensions, changing the breakdown method by, for example, choosing a new set of components or drilling down to sub-components, etc. Instead, for each of these modifications, the user needs to go through all of steps of the cumbersome method of creating a new waterfall chart from scratch.
Therefore, what is needed is a user-friendly computational method and system that enables a user to create a waterfall chart with a minimum amount of input and without the need for manually creating or manipulating a graph. Moreover, what is needed is a user-friendly computational method and system that enables a user to modify an already created waterfall chart by, for example, merely entering the type of modification and without the need for re-creating the new waterfall chart from scratch.